The week before spring term starts, Reed College hosts one of its most distinguishing events, Paideia. Faculty, students, and alumni give mini-courses and workshops on topics they know or care about in a community-wide festival of spontaneous learning. This year’s lineup included Dr. Demento, an introduction to Heidegger hosted by the college president, a chocolate tasting, an orienteering course, a talk on fractional calculus, an introduction to mountain trail running (led by yours truly), and dozens of other seminars and practical explorations.

Leading the intro to MTR gave me the opportunity to synthesize a lot of disperse thoughts on running, training, nutrition, and mountains into a slide presentation. And then I got to decorate said slides with all of my favorite wilderness and mountain photos. What a great excuse to reflect on some of my favorite things!